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Slugma Line/HGSS
Slugma is available as an egg from Primo in Violet City. It is also available at a 5% encounter rate on Routes 16, 17 and 18 in Kanto. So you decided to go against the crowd and pick Slugma? Let me tell you, it's not worth it. While Fire types are best known for raw offensive power and Rock types for being able to tank physical attacks like no tomorrow, the Slugma line falls short in both these roles. Important Matchups Johto *'Gym #1 -Falkner (Violet City, Flying-type):' Slugma can 2-3HKO the Pidgey easily, though be wary of annoying Sand-Attacks. Pidgeotto is best avoided; Slugma can't outdamage Roost without lucky crits and Gust hurts quite a bit. * Proton (Slowpoke Well): Zubat can little more than annoy and Koffing's Special Defense is laughable. Light 'em up! * Gym #2 - Bugsy (Azalea Town, Bug-type): Avoid Scyther, as Quick Attack will take out about half Slugma's health even without Leer or Focus Energy. The cocoons are a joke. * Rival (Azalea Town): Gastly and Zubat will die in 2 or 3 hits, though Zubat's Supersonic may be a pain if the RNG hates you on the day the battle takes place. Bayleef can't hurt you much, so go ahead and take it down. You can't damage Quilava quickly while it can bother you with Smokescreen - use something else. Croconaw is more like CrocoNO. * Gym #3 - Whitney (Goldenrod City, Normal-type): Two Flamethrowers will take out the Clefairy, though be wary of Metronome potentially rolling something deadly. Do not mess with the Miltank - even Fire Blast will hit for only about half her health while Stomp does the same to you, and that's not counting critical hits, flinch rates, and the ever-dreaded Rollout, as well as Milk Drink. * Rival (Burned Tower): Gastly, Zubat and Bayleef are even easier now that you presumably have a more powerful Fire attack. His brand new Magnemite will die easily, though be aware of its annoying Thunder Wave and Supersonic attacks. Quilava should still be handled by someone else. Croconaw is obviously off-limits. * Gym #4 - Morty (Ecruteak City, Ghost-type): Gastly and his level 21 Haunter can both be taken out by a single Flamethrower, though if the latter puts you to sleep, either heal immediately with an Awakening or switch out. His Level 23 Haunter will take two Flamethrowers and has both Curse and Night Shade, so watch your health and do not attempt if Slugma is already Cursed. Do not, I repeat, do not have Slugma fight the Gengar, as Shadow Ball will OHKO Slugma from full health! * Eusine (Cianwood City): Don't use Slugma against the Drowzee as its Special Defense is too high and Hypnosis is a troll. Keep it away from Electrode also - Slugma won't survive Thunder if it hits. The Haunter is easy pickings as long as you don't let Slugma stay asleep. * Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): Either of Primeape's attacks will kill Slugma if they hit while taking two Flamethrowers to defeat - avoid unless you're feeling really lucky. Avoid Poliwrath at all costs. * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): Do not fight the Magnemites as Thunderbolt is an OHKO against the frail Slugma. Steelix will take two Flamethowers to defeat while taking two attacks to defeat Slugma - go ahead and attempt it, but switch if Steelix connects with anything that isn't Sandstorm. * Petrel (Team Rocket HQ): With Choice Specs you can one-shot everything with Flamethrower, but don't take on the Raticate if Slugma's health is low as Sucker Punch leaves a sizeable dent. * Ariana (Team Rocket HQ, tag battle with Lance): You have a Dragonite with a huge level advantage for a partner and are probably overleveled yourself. Nothing to worry about. * Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Seel and Dewgong's Thick Fat combined with their sizeable Special Defense and ability to Rest means Slugma will have great difficulty defeating them, but they also only have Ice attacks, meaning that you won't be at risk of nasty surprises if you choose to fight them with Slugma. Avoid the Piloswine, as its Mud Bomb is lethal. * Petrel (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Slugma is slower than Koffing/Weezing and they all have Self-Destruct or Explosion. That's all the excuse you need to keep Slugma out of this fight. * Rival (Goldenrod Underground): Golbat can be handled with two Flamethrowers as long as it doesn't crit with Air Cutter. Haunter's Shadow Ball can one-shot Slugma from full health, so avoid it. Magnemite goes down in a single Flamethrower, just make sure you have more than 20HP before doing so, because of SonicBoom. Sneasel can also be OHKO'd, but be aware that its Faint Attack will take out about half your health. Quilava can be beaten in three AncientPowers, though you'll likely need to heal at some point. Meganium's Petal Dance can hit pretty hard despite the resistance, but it still shouldn't be much trouble. Avoid Feraligatr like the plague. * Proton (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Golbat can be defeated with two Flamethrowers. Don't have Slugma fight the Weezing as its Sludge will take out well over half your health and it can't be OHKO'd. * Ariana (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Slugma can survive two Crunches, so it can handle Arbok as long as it isn't stopped by paralysis. Vileplume may survive a Flamethower and its Sleep Powder is annoying. On the other hand, it'll take three Acids to kill Slugma-it's your decision. Murkrow can deal heavy damage but dies in a single Flamethrower, so as long as your health is high you'll be fine. * Archer (Goldenrod Radio Tower): If your Slugma's still a Slugma, keep it out of this fight - even Houndour is too strong without relying on AI stupidity. If you evolved it, on the other hand, this fight is easy: Ancientpower for the Houndour and Houndoom and Flamethrower for the Koffing. * Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): Gyarados is risky as it can potentially survive two Ancientpowers and end Magcargo with a barrage of Dragon Rages; wearing Choice Specs will remove this risk, though. Don't fight the Dragonairs as one has Aqua Tail and both have Dragon Pulse to tear through Magcargo's lacking Special Defense. Kingdra has Hydro Pump, enough said. * Kimono Girls (Ecruteak Dance Theater): Umbreon can be handled if you use Amnesia first, though flinchfusion hax could easily wreak things for you. Espeon is too powerful and its Psych Up makes Amnesia unadvisable. Flareon can do little to Magcargo, so AncientPower away! Jolteon is a gamble; two of its Thunderbolts will kill Magcargo but two of your Flamethrowers will do the same to it. If you think fighting Vaporeon with Marcargo is a good idea, please turn in your Nuzlocke license now. * Ho-oh (Bell Tower, HeartGold only): Ho-oh's double Rock weakness isn't doing it any favors! As long as it doesn't use Extrasensory (or AncientPower, if facing it in Soulsilver), you'll be fine. * Lugia (Whirl Islands, SoulSilver only): Sorry SoulSilverites, but Lugia has Hydro Pump and a buttload of Special Defense, both of which spell doom for Magcargo. HeartGold players won't fare much better, as their version of Lugia's AncientPower does close to half a health bar of damage while still being a massive Special wall. * Rival (Victory Road): Sneasel falls to a single Flamethrower. Haunter will too, but beware of its powerful Shadow Ball. Kadabra may take two but its Psybeam will deal "only" about half Magcargo's health, so as long as its first move isn't Psybeam you'll be fine. Magneton forgot what generation it's in and thus has no special attacking moves; put it out of its misery with Flamethrower. Golbat's attacks are all resisted or weak; two hits will do it in. You resist every one of Typhlosion's moves, so fire off two AncientPowers and have no fear. Meganium will burn easy. As always, keep away from Feraligatr. * Elite Four Will (Psychic-type): Amnesia is your friend here; pop one once his starting Xatu and Slowbro are down. The first Xatu will go down in two hits, but don't use AncientPower, or it'll Me First it right back at you for serious damage. Slowbro's an obvious nope. Jynx takes two Flamethrowers, but if you remembered that Amnesia (pun not intended), you'll be fine. Exeggutor goes down in one Flamethrower and if likely to waste its turn on Reflect anyway. The second Xatu handles much the same as the first except this time, feel free to use AncientPower if you want. * Elite Four Koga (Poison-type): Ariados' attacks are weak and its Spider Web + Baton Pass combo means nothing when Flamethrower one-shots it. Forretress is even more laughable, though beware if you intend to switch out at some point as it'll likely lay down Toxic Spikes before dying. Venomoth also dies to a single Flamethrower, though it may Toxic you first. Muk can't hurt you much with Gunk Shot; on the other hand it'll take three Flamethrowers before dying which could be problematic considering its Toxic + Minimize combo, so be careful. Crobat's weak physical attacks will glance off Marcargo's mighty Defense - no problems here. * Elite Four Bruno (Fighting-type): Despite Magcargo's double Ground weakness it'll survive Dig, so if you're willing to spend a healing item or two you'll do fine. (Or you could just, y'know, use a Flying type...) Avoid Onix and its killer Earthquake. While you're at it, keep away from Hitmonlee and its Hi Jump Kick too. Hitmonchan is no problem, as even with Iron Fist it simply can't compete with Magcargo's Defense. Don't even think of fighting Machamp - every one of its damaging attacks are super-effective and its Attack is painfully high. * Elite Four Karen (Dark-type): One thing to be wary of in this fight: Karen is clever enough to switch in her Houndoom to nullify your Fire attacks with Flash Fire. I recommend you use someone else for Umbreon as it's too bulky to be taken down quickly. Don't send Magcargo in against Gengar; Focus Blast may be infamous for its low accuracy but it's lethal if it hits. Vileplume fries easy. Houndoom and its powerful Dark Pulse should be avoided. Murkrow hits harder than you'd expect but as long as you have about half your health when facing it, you'll manage. * Champion Lance (Dragon-type): Lance's Gyarados actually has a Water attack, so stay away from it. Charizard's double Rock weakness makes it an easy target for an AncientPower or two. Aerodactyl is off-limits due to its powerful Rock Slide. His Level 50 Dragonite's Outrage will deal massive damage but is not an OHKO, so as long as it doesn't use it for its first attack you can take it. The level 49 Dragonites both have Dragon Rush which will kill in two hits and love using Thunder Wave to shut down your attacks; it's a gamble you're better off not taking. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Magcargo should not set foot in this gym as it can't do much damage to anything, and every one of Brock's Pokémon has super-effective moves. * Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): One Flamethrower will take out Sneasel. Golbat goes down from two Flamethrowers or AncientPowers. Alakazam's Psychic will kill in two hits but it's likely to waste turns using its other moves - gamble if you have no better options. Magneton still dies to a single Flamethrower, however this time it carries the 2HKOing Discharge, so be careful. Avoid Gengar - its Shadow Ball will knock out Marcargo in two hits and it has Mean Look to prevent an emergency retreat. Don't let Marcargo anywhere near Feraligatr. Meganium has dropped Reflect in exchange for Light Screen, so it's probably better to let your Flying type handle it. Typhlosion can hardly scratch you, while you have AncientPower making it an easy target. * Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): Four words: Water-type Gym Leader. Four more words: Don't try it, fool! * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Raichu will take 2-3 Flamethrowers to beat while Magcargo dies to 3 Shock Waves, so it largely comes down to how trollish Double Team is. Avoid Electabuzz as its Low Kick will drain about half of Magcargo's health, and it will most likely use Light Screen to shrug off your attacks. Neither Electrode is a challenge, though the one with Light Screen could prove annoying. Torch the Magneton and fear not: its attacks are weak despite its high Special Attack. * Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Not as easy as you'd expect. Magcargo should avoid Tangela and its AncientPower as well as Victreebel due to its devastating Leaf Storm. Jumpluff and Bellossom can both be torched by Flamethrower, though beware the latter if Sunny Day's in effect - Solarbeam won't kill you but it will do an uncomfortably large amount of damage. * Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): Crobat's sole offensive move is Wing Attack, so it's no threat at all, especially if you picked up the Yellow Flute from Route 12. Weezing's attacks are all resisted so you should have no trouble beating it. Both Ariados fall to a single Flamethrower, though make sure to have at least 48HP when facing the one with Night Shade. Venomoth also dies to Flamethrower, though be aware that both Psychic and Signal Beam will knock off about half of Magcargo's health. * Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): Magcargo should avoid every one of Sabrina's Pokemon, as its mediocre Special Defense simply can't stand up to all those powerful Psychic attacks. * Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): Simply chuck AncientPowers at anything that moves until it stops moving. Make sure to bring along PP restoratives though, unless you are so overleveled you can rely on Earth Power as well. * Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): Magcargo can handle Arcanine and Pidgeot, though keep your healing items close as Arcanine has the potential to survive two AncientPowers and Pidgeot has flinchhax in the form of Air Slash. Avoid everyone else as they either have doubly super-effective moves (Rhydon and Machamp's Earthquake, Gyarados' Waterfall) or, in the case of Exeggutor, the lethal Leaf Storm attack. * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): The team is the exact same as the Mt. Moon confrontation, only Golbat has evolved into Crobat. Refer to the aforementioned matchup for details. Crobat is doable with AncientPower, even in its evolved form. * Red (Mt. Silver): Magcargo can tank a Thunderbolt and will one-shot Pikachu with Earth Power. Lapras and Blastoise should obviously be avoided. Charizard falls to a single AncientPower, but watch your health if it's low, as its Special Attack is nothing to laugh at. Venusaur should be handled with caution - while Flamethrower will take it out quickly, Sleep Powder is annoying and Frenzy Plant will do a massive amount of damage. Snorlax's bulk and Thick Fat keep it from taking much damage, however its attacks won't do much to you either, so if have enough Full Restores and patience go right ahead. Moves Slugma starts off with Smog and Yawn, neither of which are particularly useful. At level 8 it learns Ember which will do for STAB for the time being. At level 11 it learns Rock Throw which unfortunately runs off its sad Attack stat. At level 16 it learns Harden - more useful on its evolved form as Slugma is too fragile to waste time buffing. At level 23 it learns Recover - once again, more useful as a Magcargo. At level 26 it learns AncientPower which you'll want to hang onto as your best choice for eventually Rock STAB. At level 31 it learns Amnesia to help it make up for its lacking Special Defense (when it evolves, of course). At level 38, besides finally evolving, it learns Lava Plume - if for some odd reason you didn't already teach it Flamethrower or Fire Blast via TM, this is a godsend. Level 45 and 52 give it Rock Slide and Body Slam respectively, to be ignored like all its physical moves. Level 61 is when it naturally learns Flamethrower, though why you wouldn't have it by now is beyond me. Finally at level 66 it learns Earth Power and while awesome, it comes too late to get much use out of it. On the TM side of things, its options are limited. Flamethrower is pretty much necessary if you want it to be of any use while still a Slugma. Light Screen and Reflect are possibilities if you'd rather have Magcargo take a more supportive role. The combination of Sunny Day and Solarbeam, while popular among most Fire types, is not recommended as Magcargo has no right to be facing anything Grass is strong against. Fire Blast and Overheat are options if you like taking risks, but the imperfect accuracies of both and the stat drop of the latter will likely screw you over at the worst possible moment. Recommended moveset: Flamethrower, AncientPower, Recover / Reflect / Earth Power, Amnesia / Light Screen Other Slugma's stats Magcargo's stats * What Nature do I want? Modest and Quiet are best, but any nature that lowers Attack or Speed (without raising the other!) is good. * Which Ability do I want? Flame Body by a mile. Freezing moves are not very common and nerfing your opponent's Attack via burning is very welcome during the awkward Slugma phase. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? Somewhere between the Rocket's takeover of the Radio tower and Clair. * How good is the Slugma line in a Nuzlocke? Simply put: it's not. Its lackluster offensive stats and virtually nonexistent Speed keep it from being an effective attacker while its poor health, mediocre Special Defense and many weakness wreck its ability to play defensively. It is a Pokémon without a niche and a Pokémon without a niche has no place on a team. Slugma's type matchups: * Weaknesses: Rock, Ground, Water * Resistances: Bug, Steel, Fire, Grass, Ice * Neutralities: Normal, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ghost, Electric, Psychic, Dragon, Dark Magcargo's type matchups: * Weaknesses: Fighting, Rock, Ground (x4), Water (x4) * Resistances: Normal, Poison, Bug, Ice, Fire (x0.25) * Neutralities: Flying, Ghost, Electric, Psychic, Dragon, Dark, Steel, Grass Category:HeartGold/SoulSilver Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses